The present invention relates generally to games that utilize non-identical, sequential, related images as a winning condition. The game may be especially adapted for casino type wagering machines and may employ a sports theme, such as a football theme.
Casino slot machines initially used a series of rotatable mechanical reels, a mechanical arm to actuate the spinning of each reel, and a mechanism for stopping each reel at a randomly selected arcuate position. Each reel bore about its periphery a plurality of symbols such as oranges and cherries, and if identical symbols appeared in a horizontal row across the reels, then the player won a preselected amount of money or other prize.
Later slot machine developments employed three reels, and if identical symbols appeared across any one of three horizontal rows, or diagonally, then the player was awarded a preselected prize. Still later developments in video technology simulated the spinning of mechanical reels on a video monitor screen, usually randomly displaying symbols in a single row of three frames or in a so-called 3.times.3 array in which symbols were depicted in nine different frames arranged in a matrix of three columns and three rows. In this latter prior art version, a player could achieve a winning condition and a preselected amount of money if identical symbols appeared in any of the three horizontal rows or in any diagonal.
Other developments in slot machine technology permitted the player to initially spin all of the reels (or cause a virtual spin of all of the reels on a video monitor), decide whether to "hold" any of the reels in its position after the original spin, and then initiate another, second spin of the reels not "held", in an attempt to achieve a winng condition.
In another type of casino game involving draw poker, cards from standard 52 card deck are randomly displayed on a video monitor in each frame din a row of five frames. The player may then decide which of the cards to "hold", and new cards from the remaining cards of the 52 card deck are then displayed in the frames that are not "held". The final five card hand appearing on the video monitor is then compared against conventional poker rankings to assess whether the player has achieved a winning condition which entitles the player to an award. It is also known that in such video poker games, a winning condition may be, for example, a sequential royal flush in which the cards appear sequentially in poker rank across the video screen, either from left to right, or from right to left.
The present invention generally relates to a game in which the winning condition is the display of a series of non-identical, sequential, related images forming an event, such as pass play in the game of football.